Scenic flight over the Bungle Bungles!

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I was up early and had breakfast before I was picked up at 8:30am for my day tour. Picked up a few more people and then we headed to the small airport. I would be flying with Alligator airways. We were all given a brief talk about where our tours would be flying over. We were then split up into small groups. My pilot only looked like he was about 15.....yikes!

We were taken over to our plane and then given a safety talk. The plan only seats about 7 people, 8 including the pilot. I was seated directly behind the pilot. I wasn’t really nervous at all until we got into the air. It was quite a windy day and being that the plane is so small I could feel all the little bumps and the plane moves a lot because of the wind. But, up in the air the scenery was amazing.

They fly the planes quite low so we get a great view of everything. Around Kununurra there are fruit tree fields and cotton crops. It’s so neat to see it all laid out from above. There is also lake Kununurra as well as the dam bridge. As we flew away from Kununurra you could see rolling hills around the landscape.

Up ahead we could see the huge Lake Argyle come into view. It’s the largest man made lake in the southern hemisphere. It’s also classed as Australia’s only inland sea. It can be as full as 18 times the Sydney harbour capacity in the wet season. It’s home to many diverse species of fish and freshwater crocodiles call it home as well. Occasionally they have seen saltwater crocodiles but once they are seen they are trapped and relocated.

We also flew over an old abandoned diamond mine. Looks really cool from above. We also passed over 2 ranges that they call the waves because from up here it looks just like 2 waves breaking over a reef. So cool!

Then in the distance you could just start to make out the beehive domes of the bungles. As we got closer you could see the stripes of colour in the formations. So beautiful! We flew over them so we could all get some great pictures from directly above of them. This is when I think I got a bit snap happy but they are just so amazing!

The flight to the bungles lasted about an hour. We landed at the small airstrip out there. I have to say, my pilot may have looked like a young teenager but he flew us there perfectly! However, if you are even a little bit afraid of flying maybe a small plane isn’t a good option for you!

When we landed I was greeted by the tour guide for the ground portion of my tour. I hopped onto the big 4 wheel drive truck and settled in. There was a good mix of people, some young, some old, a couple of kids, and a couple of other girls my age. Once everyone arrived we were on our way to the carpark for the start of our walk. We were each given a lunch bag to carry with our picnic lunch.

The bungles look so different from above then they do when you are walking amongst them. We headed out into the already hot sun and our first stop was a termite mound. This one was a dead one though so we could see all the tunnels inside. Some people call them white ants but they are infact not related to ants and are big enemies with ants. It’s neat to see all the little tunnels inside. Looks like honeycomb.

All over the bungles you can see small termite trails and big termite mounds attached to the sides or tops of the domes. We continues on our walk towards cathedral cove and stopped to see some small aboriginal rock art. If you looked closely you could see hand prints and a few small boomerangs. They did these drawings with red ochre paint. Some of the rock art in the bungles is very old and some is just from a few years before. They layer on top of each other.

We pushed on walking and some some amazing rock formations. In the wet season the bungles are not open to the public because all of the walking trails are completely flooded and water is gushing around everywhere. So the park is only open 6 months of the year during the dry season. We saw the fault line from an earthquake that would have helped form the domes to what they are today.

Then, as we turn the corner into the cathedral gorge you are blow away. They have held concerts in this gorge because the acoustics are that good. We all grabbed a seat on a rock and dug in to our lunches. A sandwich, an apple, a cookie and a juice box for those of you wondering. We spent about 45 minutes here just relaxing and enjoying our lunches.

We then headed back out of the gorge and over to Piccanniny creek. You can tell that in the wet season this is a major river. But in the dry it’s just a dry rock bed that looks really cool. We walked up towards the lookout to get a great view of the area around us. By this time we were all drenched in sweat and getting tired. We made our way back to the carpark and soaked up the air conditioning of the truck as it drove us back to the small airstrip.

My pilot wasn’t there yet when we arrived so I waited in the shade. He arrived not long after with a group of passengers who were just doing the scenic flight. So I hopped straight in the back of the plane. Was a smooth takeoff and since the wind had died died it was a smooth ride back.

We flew a bit of a different route to get back to Kununurra so we could see the Argyle diamond mine. Here they find the much sought after pink diamonds and blue diamonds. It's a huge mine and impressive from up above. THe sun was starting to set so it was harder to take more pictures but the scenery was just as beautiful on the way back.

Once we landed and disembarked the plane we were given a promotional dvd by the company and then given a ride home. All in all a really good day and a great place to experience my first scenic flight!

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Comments

[Mommy]

Wow
Glad you decided to do this flight. What a sight this is. How did they get named Bungle Bungles?